I only started reading this recently, but I got hooked. It's basically the story of a girl named Antimony Carver, who studies at the eponymous Gunnerkrigg Court. I'd say it's half sci-fi, half fantasy, but I don't know that that would do it justice. Lots of weird shit happens. I like it's eccentricity and thoughtfulness. If you haven't read it and you like those themes, give it a shot.

There's also a contest going on here for current comics, and it's tied right now with Homestuck with 11,140 votes. If you love the comic, get in there and vote!

TaintedDeity wrote:Tainted Deity

suffer-cait wrote:One day I'm gun a go visit weeks and discover they're just a computer in a trashcan at an ice cream shop.

Speaking of gunnerkrigg. As with all zimmy storylines, I can sortof grasp the outlines of what's actually happening in the current story, but the details of it refuse to resolve. Is someone following this better than I am?

Yeah I know the basic outline but the details aren't clear to me. My understanding of the story: Annie is in a coma probably because she tried to follow the satellite to her father with her spirit (Or he did something, but I find the first thing more probable.) They have no idea what to do,so Zimmy to the rescue. Meanwhile city face got a job as a bird who tells every psychic in the vicinity what Kat thinks. Annie is all apathetic and stuff hiding behind her mask. So Zimmy follows the connection to her father and falcon punches him. Which presumingly annoyed Annie so she pulls Zimmie in a dream to be a little mean to her, but Zimmy is a a veteran monkey island player and easily wins the insult duel and wakes her up via the power of anger! (And Annie is a sore loser and punches her.) There was much symbolic stuff in between, but I refuse to pay attention to stuff like that. Oh and we see that in Zimmys eyes Kat looks super awesome, while Gamma is an evil thief!

No, no, Kat was wearing the headband thing because she's afraid people are thinking of her as less girly (/a lesbian? can't remember if that's canon or fanon atm); so she was affecting pink and flowers to try to counteract it. Ah, here's the page: http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page ... micID=1033. Gamma wasn't just stealing it, she was saying, don't worry about that, stop trying so hard: be who you are. Even if you're scared of what people are thinking. "You can't always run from what scares you."

...That's about the only insight I can add right now, though. Hopefully Annie explains some of it next chapter or in the next few pages or something.

(also, her father is suuuuch a jerk. i understand he has issues but that doesn't absolve him of the responsibility to try not to hurt every single person he's ever met. go zimmy.)

The mechanics of that reveal were spectacular. The slow build has been awesome. It started off with reveals that seemed big enough, and then every page, it's upped the ante a little more. Flashbacks are over? You think it's done? Nope! There's more beyond the impossible. Fantastic with a series that can hold so much plot back-- some of the cards are starting to be shown and played, and it is excellent.

I tend to be more the archive-binge type than one for suspense and waiting as it's doled out in small doses, but damn, watching this the last couple weeks has been effective. Underrated webcomic is underrated.

Wow, not quite expected ending to the latest chapter: http://gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1202. Community response is kind of exploding. Maybe the most significant character development to date. Very sweet, anyway.

And I don't really see why. It's not really a surprise (it was however a uncertainty) and it doesn't change all that much. The Rule Of Symbolism says, that nothing in Gunnerkrigg Court is without a link to things to come, but apart from a side story about their relationship and the impact on existing relationships, I don't see the big whoop. Nonetheless, I agree: Awww, adorable.

It's one of but favourite webcomics but there are so many separate subplots there are that seem to have just been forgotten. Ghost at bottom of crevice, robots, fang/knife, I think Robot is still kidnapped, the island that was sucking up magic, the whole origin story, the fact Annie is part fire, and I think I've forgotten some. There are so many things going on that haven't been touched on in months or longer that I doubt all the loose ends will ever be tied up.

bouer wrote:It's one of but favourite webcomics but there are so many separate subplots there are that seem to have just been forgotten. Ghost at bottom of crevice, robots, fang/knife, I think Robot is still kidnapped, the island that was sucking up magic, the whole origin story, the fact Annie is part fire, and I think I've forgotten some. There are so many things going on that haven't been touched on in months or longer that I doubt all the loose ends will ever be tied up.

"The island sucking up magic" has also been wrapped up ages ago, I think. In chapters 27-28. It was "just" a island sucking up magic, the Court doing dangerous experiments with ether-stuff, but it turned about to be not very important plotwise. It was more of a backdrop (I guess that would be a correct word?) for when all that problematic business with Jack and the spider creature from Zimmingham was finally resolved.

The question "who is the ghost in the ravine wad and why is she trapped there" has been answered quite completely, and the protagonists have been trying to do something to it. It seems "doing something to it" isn't that simple, though (rest of ch 30) and the issue remains currently unresolved but not forgotten (that link's chapter 35).

The Coyote's fang knife thingy is clearly a Chekhov's gun which hasn't been used yet, and probably will not be used for long time.

I don't think that Annie being fire elemental is a forgotten sub-plot either. It's now been an established fact for a while, and it will be probably be referenced later when relevant. I'd actually expect that it'd be important later, as it played a central role in a certain dream-sequence-like chapter which hasn't been given a proper closure or explanation yet.

The origin of the court (the mysterious Seed Bismuth and the Tick Tock birds) is one of the grand arch plot lines, my take is that those mysteries will not be resolved until the very end. I grant there's quite many of them.

bouer wrote:It's one of but favourite webcomics but there are so many separate subplots there are that seem to have just been forgotten. Ghost at bottom of crevice, robots, fang/knife, I think Robot is still kidnapped, the island that was sucking up magic, the whole origin story, the fact Annie is part fire, and I think I've forgotten some. There are so many things going on that haven't been touched on in months or longer that I doubt all the loose ends will ever be tied up.

"The island sucking up magic" has also been wrapped up ages ago, I think. In chapters 27-28. It was "just" a island sucking up magic, the Court doing dangerous experiments with ether-stuff, but it turned about to be not very important plotwise. It was more of a backdrop (I guess that would be a correct word?) for when all that problematic business with Jack and the spider creature from Zimmingham was finally resolved.

The question "who is the ghost in the ravine wad and why is she trapped there" has been answered quite completely, and the protagonists have been trying to do something to it. It seems "doing something to it" isn't that simple, though (rest of ch 30) and the issue remains currently unresolved but not forgotten (that link's chapter 35).

The Coyote's fang knife thingy is clearly a Chekhov's gun which hasn't been used yet, and probably will not be used for long time.

I don't think that Annie being fire elemental is a forgotten sub-plot either. It's now been an established fact for a while, and it will be probably be referenced later when relevant. I'd actually expect that it'd be important later, as it played a central role in a certain dream-sequence-like chapter which hasn't been given a proper closure or explanation yet.

The origin of the court (the mysterious Seed Bismuth and the Tick Tock birds) is one of the grand arch plot lines, my take is that those mysteries will not be resolved until the very end. I grant there's quite many of them.

also: we are currently working on the "ghost at the bottom of the crevice" thing. In fact it's looking more and more like it ties into the origins of the court somehow

was once kinigget

still the most gothic unicorn ever

Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from technology-Agatha Heterodyne

I don't think that Annie being fire elemental is a forgotten sub-plot either. It's now been an established fact for a while, and it will be probably be referenced later when relevant. I'd actually expect that it'd be important later, as it played a central role in a certain dream-sequence-like chapter which hasn't been given a proper closure or explanation yet.

OK that's just amazing, thank you for this, reading it is a great recap to help remember things that seem quite important to the chapter that just finished!

Proverbs 9:7-8 wrote:Anyone who rebukes a mocker will get an insult in return. Anyone who corrects the wicked will get hurt. So don't bother correcting mockers; they will only hate you.

Hawknc wrote:FFT: I didn't realise Proverbs 9:7-8 was the first recorded instance of "haters gonna hate"

Gah, there's so much going on in this webcomic, it cannot come out fast enough.

Re: today's page:

Spoiler:

I guess Annie was putting on an act of some kind? Ever since her dad came back things have been incredibly fucked up and I couldn't understand why would Annie agree to all of this. I guess she knows how to handle her father... I'm just happy she still has her own personality and hasn't surrendered to her dad. I don't know what his deal is but it would be pretty hard to redeem him in my eyes.

Now bigtime plot funstuff is happening I feel I should go back and reread all of GC again. I must have forgotten a bunch. Also that fire elemental design is great.

Spoiler:

I remember when Zimmy punched Annie's dad he had those bony protrusions kinda keeping in some fiery elemental thing. Guess even when he was on the satellite he was trying to keep Annie calm/normal.

Also, baddad appears to have a prosthetic hand. I saw some talk on the forum about that matching up to the finger-like bony protrusions coming down from the satellite. That and he's go a mark on his face from being whacked by Zimmy.

I mean... just because he had his reasons doesn't mean he's not an utter shit, you know. This is intellectually interesting but I don't see him as being a better dad in retrospect or anything. Whatever his reasons, she's a healthy young woman who was happy with her life (and yes she had school issues that need to be dealt with) and he completely abandoned her with zero explanation, then suddenly came back, took over her life, stopped her from expressing herself, physically distanced her from her friends, humiliated her in front of everyone she holds dear. He's pretty terrible, regardless of what he was trying to do.

Yeah, I knew it had to happen, which alongside moving stress made me skip reading for a while-- he was being such an inexcusable dick, and I just knew he'd end up having dimensions, because the author is too good for that. I couldn't face it at the time. As long as he ends up with reasons rather than excuses, I'm ok. But I'm hoping no one is all "OK now you have to forgive him for his ludicrously monstrous dickery because he had reasons and is maybe human". Because holy god, it was flagrant. It was humiliating and calculated to be as painful as possible. There are no excuses for that. Plus, he's lost the respect of the whole class by being an unprofessional dick just to thoroughly humiliate a student, so way to be a shitty teacher too, douchecanoe. But I'm pretty sure it'll be handled well. It's just seeing the tropes done by lesser authors that's made me sensitive.

And think about the situation. He's only spilling all this while inebriated and isolated. Perhaps because this is a close friend, could give him that. This close friend is a teacher, and a responsible adult, and he is liquoring up his friend because he knows it is the only way to get an honest answer out of him, and enabling/specifically instructing his friend's own daughter to spy on him because he knows it is the only chance she will ever get to see him behave like a human. Furthermore, the fact that he expects her to get anything out of the experience suggests he thinks she is worlds more mature than her father ever was or will be. Which she is; it's a low bar, and she wasn't exactly given a choice. (Force her to be an adult and then bitch about her wearing makeup. Wrinkled manchild.)

Thinking about the situation myself, he opened up awfully completely and suddenly. I wonder if that really was just a bottle of alcohol? Either way, this is an interrogation; he's done this deliberately to get answers. Donald has an opaque glass, we can't tell if he's drinking at all. We've seen him take exactly one. We've seen Tony refill his glass. Think about what it takes to get a responsible adult to resort to this...

1. I love the art style in this chapter.2. I'm not sure who's reading the story - is it coyote? Is it one of the faeries? It bothers me with my inside-my-head reading voice. Coyote is one of the only characters that I read with a very distinctive voice (something like the Joker from the DC animated universe but more gleeful and actually happy), and I'm not sure how to read this! It's a small problem, to be sure, but I found it funny that I encountered it immediately when reading the chapter.

Actually I guess it might not be a "book" or story that anyone's reading, it could be a general invisible narrator sort of thing, but it doesn't fit with the picture-book art.

Gotta say, if there's a less "reliable" narrator than a trickster god, it's not quickly springing to mind... I suppose you can technically "rely" on him to tell the truth with various degrees of slant, but that's stretching it a bit... the amount of misleading you can do without anything that's precisely a "lie" is pretty damn staggering...